ENGLISH V. COLONIAL LIFE FOR GIRLS.
LTO TER EDITOR OF TH1 "Elpscrrros.")
SIE,-1. seem to have roused a perfect storm of indignation by my letter on the above subject. I am sorry if in my desire to be forcible I have been too " vehement " and " sweeping " ; but may I say that I am not quite so ignorant of English life as some of your correspondents suppose, and after a good many years of experience, while quite agreeing with you, Sir, and with these ladies that environment is chiefly to blame, I still maintain that outside the cultivated ranks of the readers of the Spectator there are hundreds, nay, thousands, of girls who, in the words of Mrs. A. L. Vernon's admirable letter, "are simply wasting their time, doing nothing for their country or their generation "P One or two of your corre- spondents seem to infer that visits to the Continent, to "older countries" filled with the "treasures of art," &o., are to be preferred to " a trip to a distant Colony " ; but I am of opinion that for character-forming the latter is far and away the best school. In a Colony the realities and primitive facts of life shatter preconceived notions to pieces ; and even to live for a time on equal and intimate terms with persons socially and educationally inferior is not an unwholesome experience. I think we are all agreed that there is something in the luxurious, pleasure-loving spirit of the age which is surely sapping the moral fibre of family life, and of the youth of both sexes, in our too comfortable little island.
I am asked, " What is the remedy ? " but I must leave that question to younger, more vigorous brains than mine, well content if anything I may have said will stir up the thick waters of what has been termed " the redundancy of women " in England, and create channels of overflow into lands aching for the refreshing presence of wholesome, capable, resourceful girls.—I am, Sir, &c., A RETURNED SOUTH AFRICAN.
N.B.—Since writing the above I have seen " Registrar's " letter, and rejoice to find that there is one at least who agrees with me that " character " is at fault. The bringing-up of the average middle-clans girl of to-day does not make for resourcefulness and quick common-sense in the practical matters of home life.
[We cannot continue this correspondence.—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
